Environment Canada , legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act , is the department of the Government of Canada with responsibility for coordinating environmental policies and programs as well as preserving and enhancing the natural environment and renewable resources. The powers, duties and functions of the Minister of the Environment extend to and include matters relating to: "preserve and enhance the quality of the natural environment, including water, air, soil, flora and fauna; conserve Canada's renewable resources; conserve and protect Canada's water resources;forecast daily weather conditions and warnings, and provide detailed meteorological information to all of Canada; enforce rules relating to boundary waters; and coordinate environmental policies and programs for the federal government."Its ministerial headquarters is located in les Terrasses de la Chaudière, Gatineau, Quebec.Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act , Environment Canada became the lead federal department to ensure the cleanup of hazardous waste and oil spills for which the government is responsible, and to provide technical assistance to other jurisdictions and the private sector as required. The department is also responsible for international environmental issues . CEPA was the central piece of Canada's environmental legislation but was replaced when budget implementation bill entered into effect in June 2012.Under the Constitution of Canada, responsibility for environmental management in Canada is a shared responsibility between the federal government and provincial/territorial governments. For example, provincial governments have primary authority for resource management including permitting industrial waste discharges . The federal government is responsible for the management of toxic substances in the country . Environment Canada provides stewardship of the Environmental Choice Program, which provides consumers with an eco-labelling for products manufactured within Canada or services that meet international label standards of Global Ecolabelling Network.Environment Canada continues to undergo a structural transformation to centralize authority and decision-making, and to standardize policy implementation. Wikipedia.

Frank Dempsey suggests that various remote-sensing, analysis, and forecasting methods allow anticipation of the harmful increases in airborne fine particulates and ozone pollution caused by the plumes of distant fires. The recognition and forecasting of trajectories of smoke plumes from active fire will be beneficial for anticipating and predicting potential effects on air quality in eastern North America. A case highlights a case where distinct increases in concentrations of fine particles and O3closely correlated with the plume from a distant wildfire, have been observed in routinely collected air quality observations in Ontario's air monitoring network. The specific data that indicate detection of smoke from northern sources are the air quality observations from various locations in southern Ontario. Several more examples have also been presented to demonstrate the benefits of recognition and forecasting of trajectories of smoke plumes in anticipating and predicting potential effects on air quality.
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Skimmers, barges and related methods recover heavy oil or bitumen from contaminated water environments such as tailings ponds. The skimmer has an articulated mesh-like conveyor driven around a drum by a drive sprocket. A pusher mechanism discharges bitumen or heavy oil from cavities in the conveyor. In one embodiment, the skimmer includes an automatic depth control system. In other embodiments, knife-edged shear plates remove heavy oil or bitumen adhering to the conveyor and drum. A barge may incorporate multiple parallel skimmers. The barge may include a bitumen-transfer pump having an annular fluid-injection flange that generates an annulus of lubricating fluid inside a discharge hose. A method of skimming heavy oil or bitumen involves using a skimmer that automatically adjusts its elevation or depth based on a control signal generated by a depth sensor. Another method recovers and transfers bitumen by lubricating the discharge hose using the annular fluid-injection flange.

Provided are decontamination compositions that include an ammonium compound, a ferric/ferrocyanide compound, a polyaminocarboxylic acid compound and a polycarboxylic compound. Depending on the mode of application, the compositions can be used as foams, liquids, gels, strippable coatings, mists, or in other forms. Also provided are kits that include such components in whole or in part along with an optional dispersing device for use of the decontamination composition.